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Special Events in Connecticut

The American Cancer Society conducts a wide variety of special events throughout the year to raise funds for our fight against cancer. Contact your local ACS office today or call 1-800-227-2345 to find out how you can get involved!

Relay For Life

The 2012 Relay season is underway, with more than 60 Relays being held throughout Connecticut. Relay For Life is an overnight event that joins communities in the fight against cancer. Teams of friends, families, schools, businesses, and organizations raise money for the American Cancer Society, individually and through fun group fundraisers, and then join together at a local track, taking turns walking overnight. Teams set up campsites and enjoy entertainment, activities, and special ceremonies throughout the night. To find the Relay nearest you, call 1-800-227-2345 or go to www.cancer.org/CTrelays.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Five Making Strides Against Breast Cancer® walks - including a new one in New London county - will be held in Connecticut in 2012. Walks will be held on Sunday, Oct. 14, at White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield and Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven, and on Oct. 21 at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport and at Bushnell Park, in Hartford. The New London County event is scheduled for Oct. 28. Teams can come from your friends and family, workplace, neighborhood, school, place of worship, or an organization that you belong to. It's a great way to share a meaningful experience with your friends while making a difference in the fight against breast cancer.

Volunteers are needed to help with event logistics and to lend a hand on the day of the walk. Funds raised at Making Strides support research related to the causes of breast cancer, education programs to promote early detection, and support services for people who have breast cancer. For more information, go to www.cancer.org/stridesonline or call us at 1.800.227.2345. To be alerted when the 2012 Web sites launch, please click here.

Daffodil Days

Daffodil Days is one of the American Cancer Society's oldest and most beloved fundraising programs. Each spring, the Society offers daffodils to donors in appreciation for a contribution. By sending bunches daffodils to friends, family members, and people touched by cancer, you are sharing a message of hope and raising funds and awareness to help defeat cancer. Volunteer coordinators take requests for flowers in January, February, and early March. The daffodils arrive and are delivered in March, coinciding with the beginning of spring (usually the third week of the month). For specific dates and delivery information, please contact your local American Cancer Society at 1.800.227.2345. We are still welcoming Gift of Hope and Bear Hugs for Hope donations. Gift of Hope donations allow us to deliver daffodils to cancer patients in Connecticut, and Bear Hugs for Hope donations allow us to deliver a special edition Boyd’s Teddy Bear to children impacted by cancer. If you live in Connecticut, you may make these donations on the Connecticut Daffodil Days Web site. If you live elsewhere, please visit cancer.org/daffodils and find your state.

Litchfield County Gala

The Litchfield County Gala is scheduled for Saturday, August 18, 2012, at the Torrington Country Club in Goshen, CT. More details will be posted here soon.

Woman and Company

"Women and Company" is a collective group of volunteers who work to engage women throughout Fairfield County in the programs and services of the American Cancer Society. Educational seminars are planned throughout the year to share wellness information on cancer-related and general health topics, as well as an annual luncheon to benefit local campaign goals.

Greater Hartford Auxiliary

The purpose of the Greater Hartford Auxiliary is to assist the American Cancer Society with its ongoing programs of service to cancer patients and their families, to provide professional and public education, and to promote volunteerism and fundraising. The Auxiliary functions as a unique and official arm of the Society. Auxiliary members are able to reach out to cancer patients and their families through its local grassroots programs. These currently include Food for Health, the partial underwriting of the Hispanic Health Council’s Latina support group, and the Transportation Fund. The Auxiliary also provides volunteer support for the American Cancer Society’s Daffodil Days, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, and local Relay For Life events.

Food for Health is a year-round program which provides cancer patients and their families with grocery store gift cards. These food cards are given on an as-needed basis to families facing many extra challenges during a time of serious illness. The program is funded exclusively by funds collected through Auxiliary membership dues, revenues from Auxiliary contribution cards, and proceeds from the Auxiliary’s spring luncheon raffles. Each year, the Auxiliary donates at least $5,000 worth of food gift cards to areas hospitals.

For more information on membership please email Erin Nielsen at the American Cancer Society.

Connecticut Shoreline Circle of Hope Funds Research

The Shoreline Circle of Hope continues to identify and fund the American Cancer Society’s most promising researchers. This benefactors group gives donors the chance to get personally involved in the researcher being supported. Through a series of receptions and special tours at places like Yale, the University of Connecticut, the Whitehead Institute, and hospitals, donors get the chance to see firsthand the complexity and challenges that are faced every day in cancer research laboratories. They meet the researchers on a one-on-one basis. They also learn about the hope for new and better treatments that come out of these labs.

SpinOdyssey

The13th annual SpinOdyssey was held on Sunday, March 4, 2012, in Norwalk, CT. This six-hour event has raised more than $3 million for breast cancer research. For more details visit spinodyssey.org.

Summer Camps

The American Cancer Society operates three American Camping Association-accredited camps for children with cancer and their siblings. They are Camp Rainbow at YMCA Camp Jordan in Ellsworth, Maine; Camp Hope at Camp Aldersgate in North Scituate, R.I.; and Camp Rising Sun at Camp Jewell in Colebrook, Conn.

These free, week-long programs offer children with cancer and their siblings an opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors while also providing the necessary medical oversight. Camp staff is made up of volunteer nurses, medical personnel, and counselors, who are supported by a volunteer camp committee.

For more information about registration, or for lifeguarding and volunteering opportunities, call 1-800-227-2345.